Am I the Reason you Breathe?
by MagickRose
Summary: When two people are left with only each other, will they both feel the same way? Rated M for later chapters. This isn't DH comptible, infact slightly AU cos I altered what happened in HBP, as Draco never got asked to kill Dumbledore.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Hermione... Hermione." Hermione stirred, and took an irritated swipe at whoever was nudging rudely at the side of her face. "Hermione, wake up, you're going to miss breakfast." Hermione finally sat up, realising she must of fallen asleep in the Common room, doing her homework, as half of Slughorns potions essay appeared to be attached to her face.

"Ron?"

"It's not like you to fall asleep doing your- actually," he considered, "It's exactly like you." Hermione gave him a small smile before gathering together the bits of parchment and books and shoving them into her school bag. She would probably have to finish the essay at dinner, as it was due in today. "Well, come on then," Ron urged, "I'm starving."

"Hold on, I need to put Harrys invisibility cloak away, I don't want a first year making off with it." She had been sneaking into the library after hours recently, researching Horcruxes, the Gaunt family, everything she thought could help with Harrys up coming fight against Voldemort. Harry, of course, had been happy to lend it to her. "And you're always starving." she told him, swinging her bag over her shoulder and following him out of the portrait hole, towards the Great Hall.

Hermiones first thought upon entering the Great Hall was that it seemed somehow louder than usual. Not the happy, childish loud that came with eating in the same room as over-excited eleven year olds, but their seemed to be an air of panic in the room. They made their way across to the Gryfindor table, and sat down opposite Harry, who was sat between Seamus and Ginny, all peering in at a copy of The Daily Prophet.

"Harry? Whats going on?" she didn't wait for an answer, she grabbed her copy of the newspaper from the rather disgruntled looking owl that had delivered her subscription. Ron leaned over to share her copy, his jaw dropping as he read the headline.

MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN

Ministers fear Death Eater involvement.

"Well, who else is going to be behind it?" grumbled Ron, disbelievingly. Hermione read the article, and read it again. Apparently, as had been feared, the Dementors had finally abandoned the ministry. Dumbledore had been right. The Dementors had left their posts, just as Voldemorts followers arrived to release as many as possible.

"I knew Dumbledore was right. Dementors don't have a clue what loyalty is, and now the ministry will be realising it, wont they?" Hermione began, flusteredly folding up the paper, which Ron took off her and began looking for something. She glanced over at the Slytherin table, from which Malfoy was positively beaming. "He certainly looks happy for himself." she said, nodding towards him.

Ron put the paper in front of her. "Well, he's going to be isn't he? His father's one of the escapees."

Hermione frowned at him. "How do you know that?"

"It's right here, isn't it?"

She looked down at the paper. Indeed, their was a list of the escapees. Scanning through the list, most of the people she didn't recognize, but certain names jumped out at her. "Lucius Malfoy..." she glanced at Malfoy, who was talking excitedly with Crabbe. "Crabbe... Avery... Nott..."

She looked at Harry, who was looking extremely worried that what seemed to be all Voldemorts core supporters seemed to have escaped. "Bartemius Crouch Jr..." She looked over at Neville, who had gone white, not that she could blame him. Now both Crouch and Bellatrix Lestrange were free, responsible for his parents... current state. "Mundungus Fletcher..." She wasn't surprised that slippery weasel had taken the opportunity and escaped, Death Eater or not. "Stan Shunpike... Good for him... Augustus Rookwood... Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange... And that's all I recognize."

"What if they come to Hogwarts?" asked Ginny, worried.

Harry looked at her, concerned. "Don't worry, they wont dare come to Hogwarts. Not while Dumbledore's around."

Seamus broke Harry's calming words with his own worries. "Well, they've done it before, haven't they? What about fourth year? Professor 'Moody'?"

"The Death Eaters aren't stupid enough to repeat their own plan," Hermione cut in. "It's far too obvious, they'd be found out in a second."

"Perhaps." said Seamus, resigning to his porridge.

"And besides," chirped up Colin Creavy, who had come to join them sitting next to Ginny. "Who could even get into the school?" You can't apparate within the grounds."

There was a dull silence. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all knew that after last year, alot of the protective spells on Hogwarts had been broken with Dumbledore and Harry returning to the grounds, and their was a great possibility that, with very strong magic, and maybe in a lucky spot, you could indeed now apparate within the grounds.

One more problem for the list.

The rest of the day went relatively quietly, no one daring to bring up the subject of the recent breakout, until it was time for Defence Against the Dark Arts, the last lesson of the day, and they found out that their usual teacher, Professor Multon (A boring man with a monobrow and triangular glasses), who had replaced Snape as he was away on buisness for the order, was also away on 'private buisness', although Harry, Ron and Hermione all knew better, that he was most probably working for the order, since this new breakout. Their new teacher, was, as she announced herself, Professor Spencer. A giddy looking woman who, Hermione thought, didn't look to have passed her own NEWTs, not to mind be teaching them theirs.

She was tall and slim built, but with a round face, rosy cheeks, big blue eyes, and a wild bush of frizzy black hair, with flowing mismatched robes, and a pointed hat which looked a little too long.

"Good morning class!" She began. Their was a pause.

"...It's the afternoon, ma'am." Seamus corrected.

Professor Spencer clapped her hand to her forehead. "So it is! Well done young mister." She paused for breath. "Your name?"

"Seamus Finnigan"

"What a nice name!" She paused for thought. "Welsh, is it?"

"No, er... its Irish Professor."

Once again, Professor Spencer clapped her hand to her forehead, rather over dramatically, making everyone jump. "Of course, of course." She beamed at him. "Wonderful. Thirty three points to Hufflepuff!"

"I'm in Gryffindor."

"I see. Well in that case, thirty three points to Gryffindor, and thirty three points from Hufflepuff!" She glared round at the Hufflepuffs, as if they had all done something terrible.

Hermione had a feeling this was going to be a rather interesting lesson.

And it was. Most of the lesson had been spent explaining to Professor Spencer what they had already learnt that year, and helping her with the pronounciation of 'hinkypunk', only for the lesson to then be prosponed by them having to wait while the professor got over her tremendous laughing fit at such a word. At the end of the lesson, she finished by giving them their homework assignment.

"And for next lesson, I want a story about hinkypunks," She laughed hysterically at the word. "Extra points will be given for imagination, and expect a big fat zero if there are no illustrations."

"But professor," Began Hermione. "Won't Professor Multon be back next lesson?"

Professor Spencer got a look of grave sadness upon her face. "I'm afraid we don't know when he will be back, dear. I'll be teaching your lessons for the time being, as a personal favour to my dear friend Professor Dumbledore."

When the lesson had ended, Ron began with "No wonder her and Dumbledore are such good mates, they're both raving mad."

"It's not funny, Ron." Hermione snapped at him. She had other things on her mind. "Don't you find it worrying that they've started taking teachers off their jobs to help with the order? First Snape, then Multon?"

"If you say so," Ron answered. "If you ask me its a good thing Snape's gone, I'm glad to see the back of him."

"Hermione's right, Ron." Harry said. "If the teachers are worried, then we should be too. What if the Death eaters do come to the school?"

Hermione, once again, said "Harry, like I said before, with Dumbledore here, they wouldn't dare. And they wouldn't repeat a plan, its too obvious, and apparating is almost impossible."

"Almost." Harry grumbled. They turned the corner.

"Anyway," Hermione began. "We're almost in the Great hall now, we can't talk about this anymore, or some one will over hear."

Harry resigned himself to silence as they walked into the Great Hall, taking their seats, where people seemed to have forgotten all about the breakout, with the excitement of their day.

"I wish I could forget so easily." Huffed Neville, slumping down next to them. Hermione felt a great sympathy for him.

Ron took a shot at cheering him up. "Come on Neville, mate, have some sausages." Ron began shoveling sausages onto Neville's plate.

"It's no use, I'm not hungry." Their was an uncomfortable pause, where Hermione, Harry and Ron all ate in silence. "Well, I think I'll go to bed. Goodnight, Harry, Ron, Hermione."

They smiled at him and bid him goodnight, and soon they found they were resigning themselves to sleep.

When they got back to the Common Room, they found that they were the first ones back. Well, them and Neville. The fires and candles hadn't yet been lit, but it was still dark, and shadows engulfed most of the common room. They climbed the stairs to the dormitory's. They got to the top, and Ron and Harry were about to turn in to the boys dormitory, when Harry turned round to speak to Hermione.

"Hermione, I was just wondering if you'd got any further with the research."

Hermione ran her hand through her hair. "No. I look and look, but whenever I feel like I'm getting somewhere, it slips away."

Harry put his hand on her shoulder. "Thats exactly what Dumbledore once said." He smiled at her. "Dont push yourself too hard, I know you already spend too many nights in the restricted section."

Hermione sighed. "I know, I know. I'm worn out as it is, I'm almost falling asleep standing." She rubbed her eyes. It would be nice too get a good nights sleep for once. "I suppose I can have a night off. Thanks for lending me the cloak, though. It's been a real help. I dont know what I'd have done without it.

Harry smiled at her. "You just make sure it stays hidden."

"Dont worry, it is." And with that, she turned to enter the girls dormitary, hearing the door shut behind her as the boys hurried off to bed. She started on her way inside, struggling slightly with the sticking door nob. She felt as if she'd never been so tired. So tired, infact, that she didn't notice the dark figure, watching her, concealed by the shadows.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Hermione stepped into the Dormitory, leaving the door open behind her. The dormitory was very warm compared to the rest of the castle, especially in winter, and she pulled off her robe, jumper and school shirt until she was wearing only the t-shirt she wore underneath, as an extra layer.

She heard the door slam behind her.

She span around, but no one was there.

And then she felt a hand clasp over her mouth from behind, and a strong arm wrap round her body, leaving her unable to move. Fearing for her life, she didn't dare move an inch.

"Hermione," A man spoke from behind, into her ear. She could feel his breath on her. A man who knew her name. "It is Hermione, isn't it?"

She nodded the best she could with his hand clasped firmly onto her mouth.

"Good. You have something I need, and you're going to show me where it is." He slid her wand out of her pocket, and muttered something under his breath. "That was a silencing charm. No matter how loudly you scream, no one can hear you outside this room," He once again muttered something, and she heard a lock click. "And we don't have to worry about anyone getting inside this room either, so I suggest you co-operate." He finished, releasing her mouth, but keeping one arm wrapped tightly around her. He held her wand in his free hand.

"What do you want?" She asked, in a cold voice, holding her head as far away as she could from her unknown attackers face.

"I need Potters cloak. Where are you hiding it?" The man must have been listening to her conversation outside.

"Who are you?" She asked, not willing to let him get it that easily.

"What does it matter who I am? Just give me the cloak, I need it, and then I'll be on my way and you can carry on with your life and never need to see me again. Now where is it?" He asked, beginning to get

impatient.

"It matters to me a lot who you are. You know my name, but I don't recognise your voice. Why is that?" She heard him growl slightly with impatience.

He moved his head right next to hers. "Are you not afraid of me?" He whispered into her ear.

"I know you need me to find what you want. If you kill me you can't get it."

"There are other ways of getting information out of people, Granger."

She chose to ignore that, curiosity taking over.

"And how did you get in here? You need the password to get into the Gryffindor common room."

"I had an encounter with an old acquaintance. Mr. Longbottom. Awfully frightened of me, he was." His voice was lower and at a whisper, and again she could feel his warm breath, his lips brushing against her ear every now and then. "Why, I remember him right from when he was a baby. I only saw him once mind, I more remember his parents. Getting the password out of him... My my, it looked familiar."

She was hit with realisation, and a sickly feeling at what Neville must have felt. "Barty Crouch Jr."

They both directed their eyes at the door as they heard someone struggling with it from the outside, before Parvati Patil's voice rang out. "It's locked!"

She thought for a moment of calling out to her, before she realised that no one from the outside could hear her. From outside they heard a debate going on between her and Lavender Brown, about what to do, before finally the two of them left.

The conversation continued as normal. "The one and only." He smiled against the side of her face. "And now you know what I can do, show me where the cloak is."

"Never." She hissed, trying to pull away from him. She wasn't too happy about this man she was disgusted with, holding her against himself so tightly they were sharing body heat. Her attempts, how ever, only gained him to hold her tighter than ever.

He seemed to change tactics. "Shame about your friend, Harry. Lost so much already." She wondered where exactly he was going with this. "And you two have remained best friends throughout, haven't you?" She realised that wasn't a rhetorical question, and nodded. "So think, how would he be able to live with himself, if his best friend was killed, just protecting his invisibility cloak?" Hermione was horrified when she agreed with him. To Harry, she was worth more than the invisibility cloak. To the war, she was worth more than this invisibility cloak. It wasn't the Death Eaters that would be using it, they could get hold of an invisibility cloak easily. It was just Crouch that would be using it.

At her hesitation, he added, "I could do it." She froze. "I could kill you, right here, put you in your bed, no one would notice a thing until tomorrow morning when you don't come to lessons." Once again, he moved close to her ear. "All I have to do is-" He brought up her wand, and she shook under his grip. He spoke in a hiss. "Avada Kedavera." Her eyes clenched shut in the green light, and there was a loud smash, and for one terrifying second, she was sure she had died, until her eyes opened and she saw her trunk and a corner of her bed had been blasted apart by the force of the spell, bits of burnt pages from books still falling around her like confetti.

Burnt pages from books, and, to her horror, the invisibility cloak slid into sight. He growled triumphantly, letting her go as he dashed towards the cloak, scooping it up, examining his now invisible arm masked under the cloak.

"What exactly is it you need that cloak for?"

"A grin covered his face. Now, if I told you that, everything would be ruined." He still appeared to be showing more attention to his invisible arm.

She suddenly realised what he was capable of with that cloak. She slowly walked over to him, he was still fixated with the glistening cloak. He was staring at it with a gleam in his eyes. She didn't fully understand why, he had definately seen invisibility cloaks before, he had spent a great deal of time hidden away under one, and she would have thought he'd have seen enough of them. She reached out her hand and took the handle of her wand, which was carelessly sticking out of his robe pocket. This seemed to stir him, and his eyes flicked down to her hand, then back to her eyes. There was a pause for a second, before finally Hermione pulled it out of his pocket and scurried ungracefully across the room, him swooping to stop her, and almost falling flat on her face.

Later, she would curse herself for what she was about to do next.

She pointed her wand at him, shouting-

"Fortuvinculum!"

An orange light hit him square on the chest, the same orange light that spread up Hermione's wand and absorbed into her.

His dark eyes went wide and stared penetratingly into hers. "What did you do?" He almost whispered, just before there was a loud bang and the door was blasted open, revealing Professor McGonagle. He instantly

grabbed Hermione by the shoulder and shoved her into the bathroom. He snatched her wand from her grip, and pointed it at the door, which more than locked, it disapeared entirely, leaving plain stone in its place.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" He shouted, furiously. The thing about spells was that with just one or two words, you can either do something incredibly simple, or something extremely powerful.

Hermione, however, did her best to stand her ground. "It- It was a binding spell, whatever you do," She glared at him, in the eyes. "You can't get away, you'll always come back to me, it's fate, and when you do, you'll be caught."

His eyes went wide, and then they turned to a look of resolve. Where was that rational Hermione that always thought before her actions? She turned and started banging on the wall where the door had been. "Let me out!!" She screamed, terrified for her life. If she died, he wouldnt have anyone to be bound to. She really, really wished she'd gven this more thought.

"It's no good, it'll take them some time to break through that magic, it was a powerful spell." She realised not only was he crazy, but he was truly, truly powerful. Like so many bad plans, this had seemed like such a good idea at the time.

She ran desperately for the window, only to have her own wand thrust in her face and direct her away.

"I can't let you go, Hermione."

And no matter much she protested, he put his hand of the back of her neck, pulled her head so her face was pressed against his chest, and apparated.

Powerful wizards certainly can apparate within Hogwarts grounds, Hermione thought, the terrible feeling side along apparition overwhelming her, as she blacked out.


	3. Chapter 3

Well... I got asked to carry it on, and it deffinately made me want to :) So please, review, tell me what you think,or suggestions, or if you simply want more, reviewing makes me do it faster XD  
I apologise if the conversation seems to carry on a bit long, but I needed it to for the purposes of the story. And thanks for all the reviews. They really do help :)

Chapter 3

Barty Crouch Jr. stared out at the beautiful dark lake below, where he was sat in the long grass on top of a remote hill. He was still out of breath from performing the powerfull spell which had sent him from the Hogwarts grounds. This was nowhere near as far away as he'd of felt comfortable, but for now, this was as far as he was willing to go. He felt a momentary feeling of guilt, but quickly pushed it out of his head. Where had guilt ever gotten anybody? Once again, he payed attention to the serene lake below, and the long grass around them, blowing in the wind. He remembered Hermione, and looked over at her. He certainly hadn't expected to be accompanied by some one like her, but part of him was pleased not to be alone as usual. He was struck by how cold she must be, only in a t-shirt and skirt, and how uncomfortable she looked at that odd angle. He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arm around her. That was better. He conjoured up a loaf of bread and took a bite, returning his gaze to the lake.

When Hermione stirred, she spent a few beautiful moments where she had forgotten what had happened, and snuggled into the warmth surrounding her. Before she openned her eyes and remembered. And she was in the bastards lap. She quickly sat up, pushing his arm off her.

"Hermione?" She ignored him. Now she was away from him, she realised how cold it was in the wind, and pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to keep warm. She felt Crouch's eyes on her, staring intently. "...W-Would you like my coat?" She shook her head. There was a silence, until, "...Are you hungry?" Once again, she shook her head. "Thirsty?" She shook her head, and finally he fell into silence. They sat there for a while, before she remembered she had questions herself.

"Where are we?" He jumped as she spoke.

"I'm not sure entirely, we're in still in Scotland. This is as far as I could get with my magic, there were enchantments which made apparating ridiculously difficult ...We're leaving soon.

"_We_ are, are we?"

"Please, Hermione, don't make this harder than it is."

"And what's going to happen to me?"

Barty stared at her. He hadn't really given it a thought. He wasn't going to kill her, he felt oddly attached to her. She could come with him, but what then? Sooner or later, word was going to get round to Voldemort that Barty Crouch Jr., his most loyal supporter was accompanied by Harry Potter's best friend wherever he went. He sighed. He'd worry about that later. "Well... You could come with me for a while."

"I'd of thought you'd of killed me."

"Yeah, well... I didn't. I'm not going to, either." He looked away from her.

Hermione felt the need to change the subject. "So... Where are we going later?"

"There's a little house I used to stay in, when I was hiding. It's in the middle of no where, so I thought we could go there. In fact," He looked down at her, she still looked cold. "I think we should probably get going now." He held out his hand, but she gripped his arm instead. He didn't fully understand why she did this, why his arm was any different, but he ignored it. "Hold on." And with that, he apparated, and Hermione soon found herself with both her arms wrapped round his one arm, holding on as hard as possible, her eyes clenched tight.

They both fell ungracefully in a heap, Hermione looking especially rumpled after the horrible feeling of side along apperition. Barty stood up and pointed his wand at the pile of wood in the fireplace, before it erupted into flame. Hermione edged towards it, grateful for its warmth. She sat there in silence for a while, before she began to think how late it must be.

"What time is it?"

Barty pulled out a battered looking pocket watch, that looked like it was grand-looking, once upon a time. It was looking a little worse for wear now, however. "About two thirty" He told her, squinting at it through the darkness. "It's getting late."

"It is" She answered, hearing her stomach grumble.

"Are you sure you arent hungry?" He asked her, a look of concern on his face.

"I'm certain, thankyou." She snapped at him. He knew she was lying.

"But-" She glared at him, and he gave up. "Okay. If you do get hungry, ask, okay?"

"Fine." He stood looking at her for a second, before she looked back at him. "Would you just leave?"

Barty stared at her, hurt. He hadn't expected this, he'd tried his best, after all. "I- er... Okay. Space." He took a few steps back. "You need some space." He said, sadly, before disapearing into his room, shutting the door softly behind him. He shrugged off his coat and kicked off his boots before collapsing onto the bed, and falling to sleep, pushing the feeling of hurt to the back of his mind.

Hermione relaxed a little when Crouch left the room. What had happenned that night? So much had happened so suddenly, she felt as if she hadn't quite had time to register everything as it hit her. And Crouch? Crouch was insane. One minute, he's threatening to kill her, the next minute, she found her self being kept warm in his body heat and being offered his food. It was all a little too much to handle. She slumped down on her side and stared into the fire, feeling tired at the peaceful sound of the crackling. It reminded her of home, a place that felt further away than ever here. She thought of Hogwarts, and wondered if news had got out about her disappearance. She hoped Harry and Ron hadn't yet found out. Their was nothing they could do tonight, and they had already lost enough nights sleep worrying about people they love dieing. Certainly more than the regular seventeen year olds had been through. She felt it was best not to dwell on such things, and maybe she should at least try to get some sleep.

Their was no way she was going to go and ask Crouch for a bed, so she curled up infront of the fire, and felt herself fall to sleep strangely easily.

The next morning, Hermione awoke to the sound of rain pumelling down onto the roof. She had always liked the sound, as it made her gratefull she was inside, not outside getting drenched like everyone else. It made her feel warmer. Hermione pulled the up blankets up to her face.

Blankets.

Hermione didn't remember any blankets. She sat up, quickly. She was now on the sofa with a few slightly worn looking tartan blankets spread across her. Crouch must have done this for whatever reason, she didn't even want to know how his mind worked. Looking to the side, she saw that their had been a tray of food left for her, a cup of tea and two fried eggs that looked as though they had been cooked by some one with no cooking experience what so ever, maybe perhaps a hyperactive toddler old. Swallowing her pride, she almost ate the eggs in one go, she was so hungry. She had just started on the tea when Crouch bounded into the room, looking rather pleased with himself. Hermione was bewildered by his apparent mood swings, looking at him now, she would never of thought he was the same man as who had threatened her yesterday. In fact, she felt she would have laughed at him, was it not for her knowing who he truely was, and what he was capable of.

"I made you eggs." He beamed.

"I know."

"And tea."

"I know."

"I made a mess of the kitchen."

"I thought you might of."

"I couldn't cook before I got slammed away for years in Azkaban, so you can imagine."

She shook her head in disbeleaf. "Why are you being like this?"

He frowned, slightly. "Like what?"

"Like we're best friends all of a sudden? It was only yesterday you were threatening to kill me,"

He considered for a moment. "Well, you know... If we're going to be stuck with each other, we may as well not be complete enemies."

He was completely insane, he had to be. Why couldn't he be a normal, easy to hate two dimentional villian? Why must he make things different, constantly seeking her approval? She wanted to ask him all these questions, but something made her stay silent.

"...So... About this thing you put on us, keeping us together... How long does it last? You made it sound like forever."

"It can be forever, but 'binding our destinies', that can be anything, from one side of the scale to the other,"

He decided to change the subject, as he was trying to keep this conversation light. "...Was your food okay?"

"It was fine... A bit of a mess, though." She hadn't been joking when she said this, but he seemed to take it as a joke.

He grinned. "It was a bit, wasn't it? Well, as I said, I'm no Jamie Oliver."

Hermione couldn't help but smile. "So, you come from a pure blood familly, aligned yourself with the forces of evil, got sent to azkaban for half your life, yet you still kept up to date with muggle popular culture?"

He grinned, once again. "Oh yeah, I know my muggle chefs... Well, you know, in azkaban I'd read just about everything I could get ahold of, muggle or not. And now I'm fully confident that was I back at Hogwarts, I'd pass my muggle studies NEWT with flying colours, this time, anyway."

Hermione raised one eyebrow. "You took muggle studies?"

"Yep." He thought for a second. "Why?"

"Well, it's just in my experience, wizards from your background dont take to kindly to muggles."

"In your experience?" He frowned. "Let me guess, Draco Malfoy's in your year." Hermione nodded. "I've seen his picture, the Malfoy's are often in the papers, done some 'kind act of charity'. Sucking up to authority, more like. Anyway, he's the spitting image of his cousin Robert. Imaculate white hair and an unhealthy pale face, he was in my year at school, we hated each other. Everytime some thing was said against him," Barty put on a high, whiny voice. "You wait until I next see Lucius...". He's the only one with real power, anyway.

At this, Hermione couldn't help but laugh. "That sounds like Draco's cousin alright."

"He hated me with a vengance. I dont even know why."

"Weren't you in his house?"

"Nope, I was in Ravenclaw. I was almost in Slytherin though, I was almost in Gryfindor, the hat was really unsure about it. Eventually I just went into Ravenclaw because it's the family house.

Hermione was surprised. "I thought all death eaters were in Slytherin."

"I guess I was an exception."

"You seem to be an exception to most conventions."

He gave her a huge friendly grin, and she felt for a second that she could trust him. "Well, you know... Oh, hold on." He began rooting around in his pockets before he pulled something out, something long and thin. "I- I got a new... And well, if you want this back- I mean, I thought you might- well, of course, you would- I mean..." He paused for breath. "I wanted to return this."

Hermione stared at him. "Thankyou." He held it out to give it to her, his robe pulling back to reveal his fore arm, and that's when she saw it. All the joy she felt crasing down within her. It was the bitter reminder of who he was and what he stood for, and that she had been laughing and joking with such a man. She snatched the wand off him, and pulled away from him.

He glanced down at his arm, expressionlessly eyeing his dark mark. "Oh." And with that, he got up and left, angry with the whole turn of events.


	4. Chapter 4

Well, here you go. Sorry about the wait. About this chapter, I was going to have it carry on longer, but then decided that where I left it would be good, and at a good point ending the 'puppyness', as one of my reviewers put it. Well, I don't want to give it away, so...

And by the way, the next chapter should be faster than this one.

Chapter 4

Barty slammed the door to his bedroom in frustration, and directed his brand new wand at it, hearing the lock click and the silencing charm's dull swish that indicated that it had been put into place.

He could feel anger boiling up inside him.

Everything had been going so well, and then it was ruined by this stupid, pointless mark on his arm.

Why did he even care?

He didn't know, and now wasn't the time to contemplate on such things, now was the time to distructively vent his anger.

He screamed, tears welling slightly in his eyes, kicking over a bedside table.

He bashed his forehead into the the wall, closed his eyes and leaned against it, breathing heavily.

He span around, so he could stare out of the window at the dull grey sky. He slid down the wall, so he was sat on the floor. Part of him was wondering why he was so angry, but most of him didn't care. The fact of it was that he indeed was this angry, and though he wanted to act on it, there was nothing he could do right now. He didn't think he could face Hermione yet... He hoped he hadn't scared her. None the less, he was still angry, it was like he was being discriminated against for his faith. Rightly so, he couldn't help but think.

He sat there for a few minutes before he heard the door creek open, and he quickly stood up. It was, as he had supposed, Hermione. And, he wasn't ready to face her yet.

"A- Are you okay?"

He shot her a sidewards glance. Why was she faking concern? "Get out."

"I'm sorry... I mean, what else should I of expected? I was just shocked at actually seeing it... It's different, you know?"

"I said, get out."

"Barty, I-" She called him by his first name, for the first time. He would normally of been pleased, but right now it just seemed to trigger the anger from deep inside his heart.

"GET OUT!!" He shouted, viciously. Hermione shuddered at his look of anger, and he seemed to be slamming the door behind her before she even noticed herself hurrying out of it.

She stood in the hall for a few minutes, breathing heavily before she felt tears well up in her eyes. She blinked them away and hurried back into the front room. She didn't understand him, she really didn't. His moods appeared to be entirely unpredictable. Certainly, she had been rather hostile to begin with, but who could blame her? She had tried, when she thought she had upset him... She supposed he just didn't want her to see him like that. She suddenly felt the need to do something useful, so she picked up the tray which had once held her breakfast, and carried it into where she found the kitchen.

Whilst tidying around, she began to consider her options. She could stay with Crouch, see what would happen... She wouldn't be able to get away from him properly because of the spell. However, the thought of being left in a death eaters hands wasn't exactly her idea of safe. She had her wand, she could always use that to escape. She could use it to unlock doors... But what then? She would still be stranded in the middle of no where, and she still couldn't apparate by herself properly. She could always send out a message to Dumbledore, but how would she do that without Crouch knowing? She didn't have time to dwell on this, however, because she was silenced by the sound of footsteps.

"Crouch." She sighed, relieved.

"Barty."

"What?" She asked, spinning round to look at him.

"You called me Barty before, dont stop."

"I thought you were mad at me?"

"Well..." He hesitated, "I wasn't mad at you, just the situation."

"Oh... Are you still mad at the situation?"

"Yes." He said, as if he had only just remembered. He turned to go and then "I didn't mean it, if I scared you."

"You... You didn't scare me."

"I'm glad." He started to leave, but she felt strangely unsatisfied.

"Barty?" She called after him.

"You called me Barty." He grinned.

She frowned at him. "You told me to call you Barty."

"And you listened!" Hermione was beginning to recognise the happy Barty Crouch from breakfast. "Now, is that a break-through, or is that a break-through?" She smiled, and, for the first time, noticed he had a bit of a Scottish accent.

"Thats odd... I never noticed you had an accent before."

"Well, it's only a little one... I lived near Glasgow I was a little kid with my Mum, but I lost it mostly when I was moved to be with my Father, it was the first time I met him."

"How old were you?"

He ran his hand through his hair in thought, Hermione smiled when it stayed stuck up on end for a few seconds before falling. "I was ten, I think... No, that can't be it, thats the year before Hogwarts... I was nine, that was it."

Hermione was shocked. "You didn't meet your Dad for nine years?!"

"Well, he was a very busy man, and my Mum wanted me to grow up away from his busy life in London, so we stayed in her home town... I got on well with him though, for the two years before I went to Hogwarts, even if all our time together did seem very... Official... I mean, my Mum didn't want me to go even then, but my Father wanted me there because seeing as I was his heir he at least wanted to get to know me. They fell out about it, a little, my Mum stayed in Scotland. They made up though, a few years later, and she moved to London to be with him." He didn't like all this remeniscing much, and decided to change the subject. "So, how about you? Did you live with you Mum and Dad?"

"Yes, they're dentists... We lived in Nottinghamshire."

He grinned at her. "Sounds simple."

"It was. It was a bit boring really... I was so happy when I got my Hogwarts letter, when I got my school books I just about knew them back to front by the time I got to school."

"I remember, you were the best student I had when I was Moody. Some times it would feel like it was just you and me, and I was giving you one-on-one tutoring, no-one else was listening."

With the topic of school brought up, Hermione couldn't help but ask. "Do you think people are looking for me?"

Barty frowned at the change of subject. "I expect so..."

"And how long am I going to be here?"

"I dont... How did we get onto this?"

"Well, dont you think I might find it important?" She asked him, disbelievingly.

"I- of course, but, I dont know."

"Well, what are you planning on doing next?"

"I dont know."

She stared at him. "So, you're just making things up as you go along, then?"

"Yep." He told her, honestly. She groaned in frustration.

"That's just pointless! And dangerous."

"Well I'm still here aren't I?" Once again, she gave a groan of frustration, and he decided to try and patch it up. "But look, what's wrong?" He walked over to her. "Do you want to get out of here for a while?"

She looked at him. "We can do that?"

"Well, of course we can." He held out his hand, and she took it. To her horror, she suddenly found herself clasping onto his whole arm, as that terrible feeling of being squeezed through a tube of which she seemed to be growing acustomed to recently overwhelmed her.

"Barty!" She choked out, her words lost into whatever was surrounding her mid-apparition. Eventually she felt them slam down to Earth, Barty's arm the only thing stopping her from collapsing onto the ground. "Oh, my god, don't do that suddenly!"

"Sorry."

She sighed. "No, it's okay." Slowly, she raised herself onto her feet and looked around. She definately recognised the place, but surely he wouldn't... "Are you insane?!"

He actually considered that question. "Probably. Maybe. A little bit, nothing major."

She chose to ignore that and get to the point. "You took us to Diagon Alley..."

He looked wounded. "What's wrong with Diagon Alley?"

"Don't you think we'll be seen?"

He didn't seem to hear that. "I love Diagon Alley."

"I said, don't you think we'll be seen?"

"You can get anything in Diagon Alley."

"BARTY!"

"Yes?" He asked, ernestly.

"Aren't you in the slightest bit worried we'll be seen?"

"Nah. Come on, let's go and look round." He gasped, grabbed her arm and hurried over to the magical creature shop, 'Magical Menagery', of which Hermione had purchased Crookshanks a few years ago, to stare in at some bezare looking creature, which appeared to be a giant kitten the size of a dog with a shell like a turtle.

Hermione was baffled. And not by the kitten-turtle. How could he just not care that they could be seen? Didn't this defeat the objective of kidnapping her? On the other hand, she didn't really know why she was complaining. If she got spotted then at least perhaps someone would rescue her, raise the alarm. And Diagon Alley was certainly a friendly change of scenary. She decided to abandon the subject and accept that there were some things about him she would just never understand.

"Do you think it would be too unpractical for me to buy one of these?" He asked her, eagerly.

"Hmm..." She said, as if actually considering it. "I don't know... It might be a bit too noticable on the run." She giggled as even his hair seemed to droop slightly in disapointment. She decided that was quite cute.

"I think you're right. Even so, those things are cool do you want ice cream?"

"Sorry?"

"I said, do you want ice cream?"

"Oh, sure. Though traditionally you are supposed to end one sentence before starting another."

"I don't conform to those little grammar rules." He said, stubornly. He could certainly make Hermione smile. Especially when ten minutes later he was recruiting her help in selecting the most bizare flavour of ice cream avaliable.

"I don't know though... I've never heard of that, how do I know that it's different just by the name? It could just be vanilla in a different language. Bacon flavour ice-cream sounds intreaguing."

"I'm not sure 'intreaguing' is the way I'd describe it."

"No, because you're used to bacon being warm and solid, its going to be completely wierd as ice cream, but bacon tastes nice, so theres no reason it wont taste nice as ice-cream." He explained.

"If you say so."

"At least I'm trying new things. Strawberry," He tutted. "what happenned to the enterprising Hermione?"

"She's probably being sick after eating bacon ice cream." She mumbled. Barty laughed.

After the ice-cream (Barty eventually persuaded her to try his, and she had to admit, it didn't taste too bad, just unusual), they had a very grown-up conversation in Flourish and Blotts about various historical events and magical theory, only for all maturity to go out of the window when Barty decided it would be a great idea to try on rather extravigant hats in a wizard wear shop.

"I don't think I'll ever forget this." Giggled Hermione, as they hurried out into the street. A shop assistant had finally told them in a forced polite way to basically buy something or get out.

"I know, I thought the burgundy one was most unusual."

"No," She laughed, and shoved him a little. "I mean this whole thing, it's one of the strangest things to ever happen to me."

"Well, It's a little unusual to me aswell..." He glanced around. "Where to now? The sun's starting to go down, it's a pity we set out in the afternoon." He spotted that they were stood right near The Leaky Cauldren. "We could stop here for some food before going back if you want." She agreed, and so they set off in it's direction. Inside, there sat the usual shady group of characters, and for the first time that day he lead her to the corner of the room where they couldn't be seen.

"Recognise anyone?" She asked casually.

"I-" He momentarily looked taken aback, as if he wasn't sure exactly how casual she had really meant that, and she had to admit, she wasn't entirely sure herself. "No, why should I?"

"Oh, you know, just looks like your crowd."

"What, shady?"

"Well, yes."

He grinned. "How rude."

"Well, you- Barty? Are you okay?" Hermione looked at him in horror, as he clutched his forearm, clearly in pain.


End file.
